A Student’s View: Task Shifting Holds Potential for Addressing Health Worker Shortages and Expanding Access to Health Care

Carol Bales — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 15:39:30 +0000

The concept of task shifting is not a new one. In 19th century France, officiers de santé were an officially recognized and commonly-used class of non-physician health workers, while in China, so-called barefoot doctors were widely deployed across the country in the mid-20th century. And in Africa, non-physician clinicians have long been trained across the continent to fill various roles. Succinctly put, task shifting is a process of delegating tasks from higher-level health workers to less specialized health workers with shorter training and fewer qualifications.

Author's name:

Obinna Okeke

Publication Date:

January 2014